


Bits and Bobs

by Jen425



Series: The Force Bond Challenge [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Orginal Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Force Ghost Shenanigans, Gen, M/M, Missing Scenes, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-05-18 00:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14842496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Cut scenes from the rest of the series.





	1. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoda's timeline.

Anakin barely has time to react as Fives pulls him into an angry kiss.

 

“Di’kut,” Fives says angrily, “How did you even manage to land that chunk of ship?”

 

Anakin smirks.

 

“Magic,” he says.

 

Fives just sighs, shaking his head.

 

“Of course,” he says, “Ner Jetii…”

 

Anakin feels his smile soften.

 

“I wish that it didn’t have to be this way,” he says, gesturing to the safe house and thinking about all the many factors keeping their love a dirty secret, “You deserve better.”

 

Fives just smiled.

 

“Don’t worry, cyare,” he says, “You believed me this time.”

 

Anakin darkens at the mention of their shared vision seven years ago. He still has nightmares of those terrible events. Still wants to shudder at the unexplainable and impossibly terrible mental scarring from something that he still, to this day, can’t explain.

 

But now was not the time for that.

 

“I’ve missed you,” he says, “Even as we see each other as the Force wills it, I’ve missed the taste of your lips.”

 

Fives smiles back.

 

“Even that wasn’t for nothing,” he says, “I’m here with you.”

 

Anakin sighs.

 

“I know…” he shakes his head. “It’s just… it’s hard to believe that Chancellor Palpatine could be involved, even if he did…”

 

Even if he did try to convince him to kill Dooku.

 

Anakin grips his lover tighter. The Force has been screaming about danger and change for months now, and nobody could figure out  _ why _ .

 

“I feel like things are about to get worse,” he says, “But… we can talk about the war later. For now, all I want is to be with you.”

 

Fives smiles.

 

“Of course, Anakin,” he says, and it makes Anakin smile, too. Fives rarely calls him by his name, even now and despite his best efforts.

 

“Obi-Wan is purposefully turning a blind eye, tonight,” Anakin says, “I don’t have to be anywhere until the Council briefing at ten.”

 

Fives smirks.

 

“That should be enough.”

 

It’s never enough. Of course it’s not… but it’s a little bit of hope, and Anakin feels his lips curl up into a grin. Going back to the front and having to leave Fives behind was perhaps one of the hardest things he’d ever done.

 

And so, in this moment, being here was enough.

  
  
  


_ Anakin stares at the scene before him. _

 

_ “So this is what you were doing,” he says, “I’m… honestly not sure whether to be impressed or just… I don’t even know.” _

 

_ Yoda just chuckles. _

 

_ “Happy, the other Skywalker is,” he says, “And free from the control of the Sith. Perfect, I doubt things will be, but hope there is.” _

 

_ Anakin smiles slightly, watching the pure love in his own eyes. Yes, he thinks, there is definitely hope. _

 

_ “There’s a chance,” he says, “For these two, there’s a chance.” _

 

_ (And he tries to ignore the burning question in his mind. Even without Sidious… where would he and Padme end up? What… a terrifying thought, but were they ever meant to last? _

 

_ Had  _ they _ ever had a chance?) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anakin's eternal mess. And how they start watching Yoda's crack fic.


	2. Ahsoka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka learns what happened to Anakin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Qui-Gon's timeline.

“Master Kenobi!”

 

Obi-Wan smiles, a smile larger than any he’d worn since… maybe the start of the Clone Wars. Knowing his and Anakin’s Padawan was alive was one of the few things to keep him together during those first few years on Tatooine. He’d held out for Anakin’s children.

 

“It’s wonderful to see you again, Ahsoka,” he says calmly before putting his hand on Luke’s shoulder, “I’d like to introduce you to someone.”

 

And Ahsoka kind of… freezes, for a second, before smiling even brighter and even sadder all at once.

 

“He looks like Anakin,” she says. Obi-Wan sighs.

 

“Luke,” he says, “Go back to Leia, I need to talk to Ahsoka alone.”

 

The boy frowns, obviously still mad at him for keeping the truth about Anakin from him all his life.

 

“Fine,” he says. Then, over their bond, _“But only because I know how close she was with Father.”_

 

Obi-Wan smiles in relief.

 

“Thank you, Luke,” he says.

 

Once the boy is gone, he returns his gaze to Ahsoka

 

“Do you… do you know what really happened, when the Empire rose?” he asks. “With… do you know who Darth Vader was?”

 

Ahsoka sighs, shaking her head.

 

“No,” she says. “But… he was a Jedi, wasn’t he?”

 

Obi-Wan… he doesn’t know how to tell her.

 

“Yes,” he says, “A Jedi we both knew quite well.”

 

Ahsoka gasps. It really only could be one person, after all.

 

“ _No_ ,” she gasps, “Master Kenobi… please don’t tell me he’s…”

 

Obi-Wan looks away, unable to meet her questioning gaze.

 

“I’m so sorry,” he says, “But… Anakin became Darth Vader.”

 

“Why?”

 

Obi-Wan sighs.

 

“Padme, of course,” he says, shaking his head, “Always Padme. Visions. And… Sidious promised a way to save her.”

 

Ahsoka shakes her head.

 

“Anakin always believed in people so completely.”

 

“Unless we broke his trust.”

 

A thing they both had done, even if Ahsoka’s reason had been far better than his own.

 

But the past is, sadly, an unchangeable part of the Force.

 

“He…” Obi-Wan laughs, shaking his head as he begins to tell the tale of his interactions with Vader, unexplainable as they are.

 

He finds himself wondering, not for the first time, if it had had anything to do with his strange first conversation with Qui-Gon.

 

“And then… he died. Right there in my arms,” he says as he ends the story. (He doesn’t mention the kiss. The kiss is a precious and sacred little piece of Anakin that is his and his alone. He can’t even tell Ahsoka without ruining the spell. The secret of the other, even crueler world and the taste of his dear one’s lips are not to be shared with the living.)

 

Like Satine and Qui-Gon before him, Anakin had died.

 

Ahsoka exhales slowly, not quite a sigh.

 

“Obj-Wan…” she says, “I…”

 

Obi-Wan sighs.

 

“I know.”

 

“Anakin always did have a way of breaking the way the Force works.”

 

Obi-Wan laughs.

 

“Oh, I know.”

 

An expression that Obi-Wan can’t quite read crosses his Grandpadawan’s face.

 

“He… he really was Anakin?” Ahsoka asks. “My Master?”

 

And Obi-Wan smiles sadly.

 

“I know Anakin’s Light too well to mistake it,” he says.

 

And, now, he also knows what it’s like for that light to be forever extinguished.

  
  


_Anakin feels a hurt deep inside of him as he watches the conversation unfold. He… although his central consciousness is that of the two Core Dimensions’ Core Timelines, he can feel every single version of himself._

 

_For some reason, Qui-Gon’s new timeline has created a version of himself that struggles more than he had with physical manifestation._

 

_(To be fair, he does have the advantage of being the Cor2Cor version of himself.)_

 

_Obi-Wan pulls him into a hug._

 

_“Soon, Anakin,” he says. Anakin feels a not-quite-real smile cross his face._

 

_“Yes, I know,” he says, “I… I love you, Master, and I’m sorry that nothing I say or do can atone for what I did as Vader.”_

 

_At this, Obi-Wan pulls back and forces their deep bond locked, essentially forcing spirit eye contact._

 

 _“I don’t forgive your actions, Anakin,” he says, “But I do love you, dear one, and I do forgive_ you _.”_

 

_And they’ve had this conversation a million times, and it always changes nothing, but… Anakin just smiles._

 

_“Thank you,” he says, and he holds onto Obi-Wan’s presence as tight as he can as waves of sorrow ripple from his own, “Thank you, Obi-Wan.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Ahsoka.


	3. She Left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin goes to Fives after Ahsoka’s trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoda's timeline

ARC troopers usually get a separate room (if that’s what it can be called.) Anakin is glad for it as he makes his way towards Fives’. She’s gone. Ahsoka is gone, and he couldn’t do a  _ thing _ .

 

And he really doesn’t want to be alone to wallow in the grief.

 

He makes it to his love’s room before Fives, not entirely a surprise. He was probably with the rest of the 501st. His men… and Ahsoka’s too. He’d failed her so terribly, and he can’t even believe it. She’d…

 

_ “I understand wanting to walk away from the Order.” _

 

_ “I know.” _

 

Force. How many ways could he kriff up?

 

“General?”

 

Anakin looks up in relief at the distinct sound of Fives’ voice. A sure weight that had pulled him up even in the middle of… whatever that had been.

 

“Fives,” he says, running forwards and all but collapsing into his lover’s arms as he starts to sob. “She’s gone. She left. We failed her.”

 

He’s not even sure who “we” is. The Jedi? Republic? Anakin himself and alone?

 

He can’t say.

 

Fives just holds him, his helmet on the floor where he’d dropped it as Anakin collapsed into his arms. He lets go only for a second, to shut the door behind him, and, if Anakin didn’t have the Force, he wouldn’t be able to tell the grief in his lover’s own mind. Ahsoka had been one of them, to every last man in the 501st.

 

Eventually, he manages to pull himself together, to an extent. Not completely, of course, but he doesn’t have to, not here. Safe here where everywhere else is now dark.

 

“They offered her a place back in the Order,” he explains. “But they did everything wrong… she’s gone.”

 

Fives sighs, shaking his head.

 

“Of course they did,” he says. Anakin sighs, shaking his head.

 

“The Council really isn’t that bad,” he says. “Despite my views.”

 

“They’ve kriffed you over so many times, cyare.”

 

Anakin sighs again. He’s too tired and angry at the Council for this.

 

“I don’t want to fight about this,” he says. “Not right now.”

 

Fives smiles, but it’s tinged with sadness. Honestly, Anakin just wishes that Skywalker-and-Kenobi didn’t have to be out in the field again.

 

And that Ahsoka was here.

 

He doesn’t know how much more of this war he can take.

  
  
  


_ “So you went to Padme’s, then, after Ahsoka left?” Obi-Wan asks. Anakin laughs, but he knows how fake it must sound. _

 

_ “Of course,” he says. “But this timeline’s version of me has a much more positive outlook on the Council than I do.” _

 

_ Obi-Wan sighs, shaking his head. _

 

_ “We really did make every mistake, with Ahsoka’s trial,” he says. “And, I know that I never said this in life, but I am sorry.” _

 

_ Anakin just shrugs. _

 

_ “It was a long time ago, Master,” he says. “And I’ve done far worse than any sentient to ever sit on the Council and called themselves Masters.” _

 

_ Obi-Wan shakes his head. _

 

_ “I did fail you, Anakin,” he says, and now it’s Anakin’s turn to sigh. _

 

_ “No, Master,” he says. “My choices were my own.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My poor baby. why do I do this to him?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Please comment!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr [@flaim-ita](https://flaim-ita.tumblr.com/). Or on my ani5 side blog [@ani5s](https://ani5s.tumblr.com/)


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